


Front row to gaming

by bblamentation



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, Light-Hearted, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:33:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28230963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bblamentation/pseuds/bblamentation
Summary: Citron is given the joy of being the front row to Itaru's streams. As an audience member one of the joys is giving gifts to the performer for a job well done, and Citron has a surprise he is sure to be well-received.
Relationships: Chigasaki Itaru/Citron
Comments: 2
Kudos: 41





	Front row to gaming

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally for the Citoita week but I got severely carried away and then also stuck with how this one would go.
> 
> Like everything I post, I don't have a beta and I have a tendency to be long-winded. Either way enjoy!

In the streaming world, Taruchi was known for playing games from all walks of life. He had begun with popular MMORPGs but had even touched obscure indie platformers; there truly was not a corner of the gaming genre he had not dabbled in—whether he liked them all or not, his colourful use of language told all. Of course, Taruchi never showed his face during a stream; he would not have had the face to endure the real world and workplace. Prying eyes and probing smiles were too much and tired a man out. Maybe, that was the reason why it took a few weeks for Citron to recognise that one of his favourite streamers was living but two doors down.

First, Citron had taken Itaru to be just another hardcore gamer, whilst the rest of the Spring Troupe members startled in horror at the crass expletives. It was not until he was walking past room 103 that he heard the usual chanting of the cherry event’s dungeon crawling theme song. It was ridiculous but those odd sounds were enticing to a wandering Citron. Taruchi tended to live-stream current events and only pre-recorded new games he was trying; it was part of the schedule.

Citron knew best to not disturb a streamer mid-stream, especially not one who didn’t show his face nor delved deep into his home life, and also not one who sent murdering eyes to his fellow troupe members. And so he did his best to tip-toe and slip into Itaru’s room. If anyone had seen him, they would have mistaken him for a burglar; then again, a fellow troupe member would have left it to a strange but usual Citron move. He did not move that far into Itaru’s room. It was just enough to see the screens and a small glimpse of the gamer’s profile. The screen was harsh on his skin, but the light gave a slight glow off his skin it was pretty to look at; even if the screen before him was a mess.

Watching someone shout down a microphone and commentating with a child-like glee, was enjoyable to experience on a phone screen but seeing the way Itaru could not help but move in his seat with a grin no one else could see was a marvel. When he had successfully beaten an enemy or had solved something he had been trying his way through, Itaru would punch the air and yell; it was another visual to the stream. Citron wondered how his videos if Taruchi showed his face but it was fun to watch Itaru’s concentration.

For the next ten or so minutes Citron had continued to watch silently, struggling to hold down his cheer. Just as Itaru was signing off his stream, a snort of a giggle escaped from Citron’s lips. He slapped his hands to his mouth as if it would have covered the sound he already had made. Yet, Itaru continued with his usual casual end to the stream, seemingly unaware of the other presence in the room. Just as Citron let out a relieved sigh, Itaru spun round on his chair. His face dark without the glow of the screen.

“What’ve I told you about disturbing my game time!”

“Woah, I am sorry!” Citron pleaded. “I didn’t want to disturb you, so I sneaked in.”

Itaru looked over at Citron’s face pulled into a deep apology; his lips pouted in sorrow that was child-like and brows gave him a slightly funny look. It was nice to see the goofy look of sincerity. Looking at the puppy face, Itaru had to let up that his stream had ran smoothly and had even progressed further than he had initially intended with the event.

“Hm, I guess I didn’t hear you come in and I have just finished my game,” Itaru said. “Just don’t disrupt me when I’m playing.”

“Yes! I will be like a Japanese ninja!” Citron hunched his shoulders mimicking movements he had seen from an old movie. “I did not realise you were Taruchi. I’ve been watching your streams before. They make me laugh.”

“Huh, is that so?” It was not so much as a question or disbelief, especially not with the smile Citron was wearing, as it was Itaru was surprised his online presence being acknowledged. He did not profit from the videos, but he did enjoy having an audience with him as he played certain games. The chat was part of the fun.

“Yes, I love to watch you play,” Citron smiled. His face lit up in delight remembering some of the videos he had seen in the past.

“Do you play?” Itaru asked.

“I play many games, yes!”

“Then you’re joining me in my games,” Itaru pointed at Citron. He would rope in someone else to play his games with him. He did not know how good his fellow troupe member was but his enthusiasm spoke potential. Citron could be another facility at the Mankai Company.

Citron smiled enthusiastically making noises of excitement. To play with someone who excelled in the world of gaming would be fun, Citron thought. And so, after practice, if Izumi did not have them practicing lines in their sleep or they had extra choreography, Citron would be invited to Room 103 to play with Taruchi. Though, he didn’t play on streams as to keep away from the microphone, Citron’s help was featured in the odd video.

* * *

As _‘Romeo and Julius’_ swept a full house, play practices slowed down with the introduction of new troupes, Itaru was able to take time with his games. He often invited Citron to play with him; the two of them delved into dungeons and sped around in race-cars. The skill level of Taruchi was outstanding and Citron could not help but feel a little bit with awe as he watched the gameplay.

Though, as much as Citron loved games, there were the odd games he disliked playing or refused playing with a slight forlorn look. Itaru did not press and made note to save those for when he was alone—if he could. When that happened, Itaru would suggest Citron choose and he without fail chose either a multiplayer co-op game or the battalion leagues. They were after all gamer Taruchi’s forte.

Unfortunately, as Citron picked a MMORPG Itaru admitted that he had a stream later and so suggested, “you can watch me play league then?”

Undeterred, Citron jumped in his seat, or rather he was more glad to hear the news. “Oh, yes!” Citron had made himself comfortable on Itaru’s sofa whilst Itaru was sat with both of their phones in his lap trying to choose a game to play. “I will be watching again! I have surprise for you later!”

“Uh, I don’t think it’s a surprise now you’ve told me.”

“Ah, but I have not told you what it is,” Citron laughed as if Itaru was silly for assuming.

Itaru quirked his brows as Citron continued to giggle at the joke he was having with himself. Citron was watching him with a bright grin. Knowing Citron, he did not think the surprise to be malicious, but it certainly would be strange. All the more amusing.

Determined to keep that amused grin on his face, Itaru chose the perfect game: Go Karters. It was an all-ages game that had distinct characters and items. So when he loaded the game on Citron’s phone, there was a gush from Citron and he began humming along to the loading screen music. His notes were rather melodic despite the rather simple tune song. Itaru could not help but nod along and joined in with some hums whilst his own phone started the game. It was one of Citron’s favourite racing games with cute characters and the fun but rather savage items. They had been talking about it a few days ago with the other troupe members and Citron was lively now as he was then.

Once they had begun playing, the two of them playing different rounds straight and ones with their own house rules, the noises from Room 103 were loud triumphs and calling at one another to slow down.

They were playing one of the more difficult tracks on a ridiculous speed setting, more “for the lolz” than gaming strategy. The two hadn’t stopped laughing as they shouted each time they fell off the track or a CPU overtook them. They enjoyed shouting at the computer players as if they had their own personalities—Itaru was fond at shouting expletives at the tanuki, whilst Citron was sure the llama was jealous and out to get him. More often, it was the two of them in a heated battle. Neck and neck.

“Go away! Go away! Go away!” Itaru shouted, laughing, as Citron was on his tail—quite literally considering his character was a little red panda.

“Never! I have hot purses!” Citron shouted back, just as amused and eager.

“You’re in pursuit!”

Itaru’s red panda was just about to come up to a sharp turn, but Citron’s alpaca was strangely threatening in game. As a last resort, Itaru was moving his whole _IRL_ body to the right along with the track as if his phone was motion controlled. It was not. The irony was that though in game alpaca-Citron was coming up on his left, regular-Citron was seated on his right. He was leaning into Citron pressing their arms and shoulders together.

“No, no, no! This is cheating!” Citron objected as he also started to lean with the weight of Itaru pressing on him.

They only had to turn the sharp bend and race down a straight path filled with bonus boosts—ones which could make or break a win—before either one of them could claim winner. They were both busy happily screaming at their phones, directed at each other, neither knowing who could possibly win. But both of them, had the disadvantage of having human bodies, separate to the characters on screen. Itaru was slipping with his own weight. He did not have full capacity to decide whether he was taking the sharp turn in game or to seat himself upright on his sofa before doing so.

Gravity and a lack of graceful athleticism caused for Itaru to slip and he fell pushing his weight on Citron against the sofa, in an almost inconspicuous position.

“Itaru!” Citron half-protested and half-squealed in surprise. He was trapped underneath the gamer, and his own right arm was trapped under his own weight. But he was just as determined to finish the race, phone still in a limp hand that had lost its grip.

“Citron!” Itaru was laid on top of Citron’s side. Although he did not have a weight of another body on top of him, it would have taken him time to position himself comfortably.

Time neither of them had. Games were priority.

“No!”

“Wait!”

The beeps from the game’s winner rang. The track was finished.

“YES! I have won!” Citron cheered. Though his body was still stuck he still managed to wriggle with excitement. “See, cheaters do not win.”

“I wasn’t cheating,” Itaru said, not bothering to defend himself when he knew Citron was speaking in jest.

“Okay. Will you get off me, now, cheater?” Citron asked. “I am stuck.”

Itaru was about to shift his weight off to make them both comfortable but he had to admit he rather liked having finished the game, in a strange about way. Itaru smirked. “Nope.” As if to prove a point he shuffled up a little, adjusting himself to rest his chin on Citron’s shoulder. He propped his chin there looking at him. 

“Oh, no. Why are you punishing me for winning?”

“I’m a sore loser,” Itaru said. From his position Itaru was quite close to Citron’s ear, so he was unsure if the laugh that came from his fellow gamer was for the joke or their proximity.

His mistake was underestimating just how close he had moved, as Citron turned his head slightly they were barely a breath apart. Seeing more of his profile, Itaru could not help but feel a little rush of warmth. Maybe, it was the body heat between them; or maybe it was the Mankai dorms’ inefficiency with ventilation; or maybe it was the way Citron was staring straight into his eyes, watching. It was somehow a little unnerving; Itaru wondered what his fellow troupe member possibly saw when he looked at him.

Slow, a parting of Citron’s lips. Was he going to say something or was he—

PING.

Itaru frowned. For a moment he did could not place the notification. But Citron’s face seemed to light up with acknowledgement. At the same time they both shouted, “The livestream!” Itaru, reluctantly. pushed himself off Citron, off the sofa, checking the time. There was a nervous need to rush to get everything set up though he still time left. But quite frankly he was no longer so motivated to absorb himself to his monitors speaking into the microphone.

The other in the room seemed to be excited. “League time!” Citron sat up, readjusting his clothes which had slipped in their _tussle_. No more skin than usual was showing but there had definitely been a shift in cloth that Itaru averted his eyes as if _had_ seen more. He tried not to think about the flush on his face and skin but more on the enthusiasm Citron had for his stream.

Doing the usual routine of setting up his monitors and equipment cooled the gamer down. Though Citron has been watching him the entire time, it was the same as usual, where they played games and Citron came to his room to get a live experience of the gamer Taruchi. Who didn’t like an exclusive experience? At least that was what Itaru had laughed about before, though he cringed a little at the thought. It seemed a little conceited to be hosting as though everyone wanted to watch.

“Are you sure you don’t want to be on?” Itaru asked. “I can edit your voice.”

Citron shook his head. “No, no. I will just watch you from here.” He dumped himself on a chair he had pulled up next to Itaru. He would be truly getting a front row seat to watching Taruchi play.

Itaru had started the Mankai Company threatening anyone who entered his gamer’s den and disturbed his concentration. Yet it was weeks in, and Citron’s presence was somehow enough to not be so distracting. Rather it was slightly a downplay when he was not playing with him, but he carried on setting up the microphone.

“Oh wait, no, Itaru! I have your—SURPRISE!” Citron shoved his phone in Itaru’s face, not giving him enough time or space to process anything. It was an ambush. “I made it for your stream. Since I cannot play on it, I have made something.”

Itaru only had the best reaction to blink at the glaring screen. He opted to hold Citron’s hand, doing his best to ignore the warmth of it in his (and failing), and put the phone at a more comfortable distance. On the screen was a doodle of… Well, Itaru was not quite sure what it was. It looked like a character holding something. It was difficult to discern whether it was a heart or a peach as the bottom half was flattened. The character itself was a mess of colours and scrawls that only the eyes and what looked like a smile showed.

“This is?”

“A sticker! It is your avatar holding a love beam,” Citron grinned. “I have studied under Kazu’s tutelage and I have created you the ultimate purse owner. I want to send it when you do something amazing!”

“It’s just persona. What’s with you and purses today?” He did bother commenting on the correct use of tutelage. Citron’s grammar handling should be left to Tsuzuru more.

Looking at the avatar again Itaru laughed, not in disrespect but for the unexpected kindness that Citron wanted to contribute to his stream without having to record himself. “Haha, thanks. It’s great. This actually is a surprise and a good one. I’ll add it in but I’m not explaining what it is to viewers.”

“Why would you need to?” Citron frowned; his sticker needed no explanation.

After another ten minutes, Taruchi’s stream began. It was to be another stream of trying to defeat one of the boss battles in Lieges and Leagues. Within the first few minutes, the usual hundred viewers popped up. He began giving his usual introductions and explaining the day’s game. The sidebar chat was already lively though most of the comments were general greetings. Of course, Citron was within the comments watching the chat both on his phone and on Itaru’s screen in front of him. There was some amusement to see the delay between the screens.

As soon as the gameplay began Taruchi had respawned into a corridor near where the last game had been left off. Even though the beginning was just Itaru setting up and equipping himself with the right things, the comments kept filling and it was a surprise how Itaru caught any comments. Citron listened as Itaru began explaining what had happened in the previous stream. Usually, during these explanation parts Itaru would be making idle animations and taunts for the characters he was playing as on screen, which Citron had always found cute when he was watching. It kept the screen moving and entertaining.

But this time, Citron was watching Itaru. His hands weren’t idle as they shifted the cursor around and controlled the little avatar’s movements; his left hand was drumming a little rhythm that matched to the percussions of the soundtrack. The one audience member who could see the fingers started matching the rhythm and was tapping themselves.

Though the microphone could not pick up the tapping, Itaru did. He looked to Citron and smirked, his brow raised a little in question. Citron grinned and carried on in response. Their fingers seemingly copying one another, in sync. Itaru had half the mind to prolong the explanations even if it made for poor entertainment when he could be doing whatever he was doing with his front row audience.

Yet, he conceded when Citron nodded towards the screen. There were the impatient flames. Itaru shouted and gave a peace of his mind, though he continued with the stream. Liege and Leagues was a standard MMORPG and Itaru progressed through battles and items. There were some strange characters on screen demanding for help whilst all Taruchi needed to do was defeat the final boss. It was fun watch seeing him battle through the leagues and hearing his comments on the NPCs as if he really was talking to them.

When the final boss battle rolled around screen, the comment section was going wild. There was a mixture of cheers to the moves Itaru was swinging with; advice and tips when things turned south; and ultimately excitement and awe at the gameplay. The battle was running near the ten minute mark when a purple flurry was unelashed on screen.

“YAH!” Itaru screamed, delivering the final blow. Whilst his character on screen was slicing the beast in multiple strikes, the animated congratulations for defeating the final boss, Itaru was punching the air. It was ten minutes of sweat and hell and Itaru had loved it. The comment section did not stop and there was no way anyone could read them even if they had it on slow.

Next to the gamer, Citron had already jumped up from his seat and was running around the room, waving his hands in the air. He was trying his hardest to contain the noises of celebration that they became strange gurgling noises. Itaru could not help but laugh as he watched Citron jump up and down, still trying his hardest not to be heard on the microphone but was sending his cheer to Itaru.

On screen, the chat was blowing up with all sorts of messages and stickers, all just as thrilled. Itaru shouted down the mic, “Did you see that guys?! YEAH!” He gushed in his post-battle euphoria.

Whilst he was responding to some of the comments, he heard the loud whisper from his sofa, “Itaru, Itaru.” It was just the right volume his microphone could not pick up the name exposure. When Itaru turned around to face Citron, they locked eyes. Those deep eyes looking into one another was the signal for Citron to place his hands on his heart. He then flung them forward sending out his cheer, straight to Itaru, with a wide grin.

Itaru’s heart skipped, almost jumping out towards Citron. But before he could even try to compose himself, Citron was pointing at his phone and at the screen behind Itaru. Itaru looked at the screen and the comment section was filled with the sticker Citron had created beforehand. It was ugly but a beautiful sight mimicking the exact same movement Citron had done: the love beam. Itaru could not help but smile at. How could he not? Itaru turned back to look at Citron, brow raised in questioning. Citron grinned and continued to spam the chat with love hearts and similar stickers.

Itaru chuckled. He leaned closer to the mic and looked straight at Citron, straight into those soft sky blue eyes. “Thank you Guest101 for all the stickers. They’re very encouraging.”

Citron’s wide grin softened into a quieter yet still as bright smile. He shifted. Moving from his spot by the sofa, back to his seat next to Itaru, back to being the front row audience. In front of him, Itaru watched as Citron grinned then cupped his hands around his mouth, as if he would amplify the next words. Rather than any shouting, Citron leaned forward, closer. The rush of heat again, and the ventilation was back to being poor. Despite Citron’s actions being generally unpredictable nothing came close to the anticipation of Citron, now, so close to his face. His fingers still cupped. But he just did not expect those fingers to press the side of his face and hear the whispers brush his ears, “you are welcome!”

Itaru could barely swallow.

Hearing Citron’s bright cheer contained within such a quiet voice mindful of the microphone, was a little strange. Sure, Itaru played up his own antics in the troupe but Citron was the most emotive. His carefree manner swept others in his frenzy it was either play along or resist and be pulled regardless. As Citron’s finger brushed the side of his cheek, returning to seat himself back in his front row seat, Itaru missed the softness, the brushes, the blushing warmth of it all.

He grabbed Citron’s hand. Grabbed it before it returned. Grabbed it before he could regret.

They both stared at each other and then their hands. They were quiet, waiting. And Citron with his darker skin squeezed at the contrast between them pressing their hands, their fingers, their touch together. A relief rushed through Itaru as if that squeeze was just the confirmation he had wanted on an unspoken question.

Then there was boldness.

Citron held Itaru’s hand and pulled it back to place it on his heart. And just as he had moments again, Citron spread his arms out again sending beams towards Itaru. “Wah,” Citron whispered in a bright cheer. Itaru felt the physical pulls as Citron moved his arms, but more so he felt the tugging in his chest. The beating that went erratic at such a bright smile.

And Itaru had no idea how he was to return to his stream, composed. How could he when there was a man so cheerfully pulling at him. His audience had hardly been the ones onscreen but the one who had sat beside him watching him. If he did not look at Citron himself then he would surely see the sticker do boldly used on screen.

Unfortunately, he eventually did. But it took Citron physically placing his hand on the mouse.

Itaru shook his head: to release him from his daze, but not from the warmth. He did not bother to contain the grin that spread across his face whilst he continued on in the battle. Others in the chat, had also joined in on Guest101’s sticker frenzy. It was amusing to see the chat blow up in such a way. It was an awful sticker with no aesthetic appeal but the joy Citron had each time he saw the little sticker pop on the screen far more pleasing to the eye. And it so reminded him of Citron copying the gesture.

He hoped next time Citron would contribute again, if only to see that smile again as part of his audience. Or maybe just to hear his voice, ever so mindful of the microphone…


End file.
